


Still Without

by Raaj



Category: Bravely Default (Video Game) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Child Abandonment, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-15
Updated: 2016-11-15
Packaged: 2018-08-31 02:53:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8560807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Raaj/pseuds/Raaj
Summary: Even after the Grand Marshal takes him in, Alternis is all too aware that he doesn't belong.





	

When Lady Mahzer meets Alternis for the third time, at dinner, finally out of hospital, she remarks on what a quiet boy he is. Her voice sounds warm and soft as always, but there’s something about her tone that strikes him as different, and he catches the way she looks at Lord Braev, as if. As if she were concerned.  
  
He realizes for the first time that he hasn’t actually spoken to her. Nodded, hummed, grunted assent, but not spoken.  
  
He hasn’t spoken to anyone since Lord Braev told him he could have a place in Eternia. He’d seen no need to. Before his words had been used to beg with, or make demands, or threaten. Silence meant peace. But it might not mean that to Lady Mahzer. The hospital could be silent, the cold snow of Eternia fell without sound. She wants him to talk. He tries to contort his mouth into a smile, at the same time reaching for something pleasant to say, hoping to reassure her and please her all at once, and the sharp twinge in his heart actually hurts. Suddenly he’s so nervous; to his body, he’s no longer in Eternia, but back in Florem on one of the worst summer days, when the humidity hung so heavily in the air it was smothering. The heat is billowing from his chest to rise in his cheeks, and nothing clever comes to mind at all. He’s only saved from utter humiliation by young Edea cheerfully piping up that she likes his quiet, as it makes him a very good listener.  
  
He’s glad their daughter appreciates his silence, at least, but he feels like an utter fool for failing to speak when he meant to, and grimly focuses on his food for the rest of the meal. The rest of the conversation he lets wash over him, only looking up when someone calls his name. No doubt this silence is the same to them as all his other silences.  
  
After the dinner, in the room they’ve allowed him to stay in, he goes over greetings and pleasantries, his voice quiet so no one in the halls will hear and question what he’s doing. His tongue feels clumsy, his smiles wooden, and he stops soon enough simply because it’s very obvious he’s not a kind person like the Lees, who are pleasant without needing to think about it, who are always sincere when they ask how he is. His sincerity lies in violence, not kindness, and he curls up as his stomach twists in knots. How much longer does he have until they realize he doesn’t belong?

**Author's Note:**

> Also a previously posted at tumblr thing. I PROBABLY SHOULD HAVE JUST POSTED THESE ALL AT THE TIME I WAS WRITING THEM but apparently past me thought that was too much effort.


End file.
